Anyone who sees this sign in our front yard, no need to worry. I don’t support Pat O’Neill, however our landlord does. He gave him permission to put this in our yard, so we are stuck with it.

After watching “Sicko”, the Michael Moore documentary, I thought about becoming a democrat. Our health care system is so wrong and completely messed up. It is worth it to watch it.

Last Friday we went to the WSU girl’s soccer game. Butch, the WSU mascot, was there and Novalie was brave enough to give him a high 5. It has only taken 3 years. The first time Novalie saw Butch, it was across the gym and she jumped into my lap and hung on for dear life. That whole game, all Novalie did was watch everywhere he went to make sure he didn’t sneak up on her. After that first experience, whenever we saw Butch, Novalie would jump in mine or Kevin’s lap and not get anywhere close to him. Once she faced her fear and got close to him, she wouldn’t leave him alone.

Kevin is not that fat. He was sticking his tummy out on purpose to fend off the college girls. (author: Kevin)

It is not very often that Novalie misses her bedtime. She is a sensitive and emotional person to begin with, so when she is tired it is greatly magnified. Tonight her bedtime was 2 hours late, which like I said doesn’t happen often, but it happens. So, we are driving home tonight and Novalie asks me if Batman lives on our earth. I tell her that Batman is just a cartoon character and is just pretend. This of course sends her into crying hysterics. If she wasn’t so tired, she would be able to have a normal conversation about it. She is crying and says, “then I can’t be Batgirl when I grow up.” I hurry and change my answer and tell her that I just meant that Batman just goes to big city where there are bad guys, so there is just not a Batman around us. Now, Novalie is just doing the sniffling cry (I call it) and asks, “So, I can still be Batgirl?” My response, “Absolutely!” I thought we would have this conversation about Santa Clause, not Batman. I felt horrible.

I finally get Novalie into bed, do the routine (which we HAVE to do no matter how tired she is or she won’t go to sleep), sing the last song and say the usually stuff, goodnight, I love you, sweet dreams and she is crying again. “Why are you crying?” I ask. “I don’t want to go to school.” Oh no, here we go…I go through all the stuff….”but you love school, you get to see your friends and have recess and ride on the bus.” That did nothing, still crying I don’t want to go to school. Now, I am tired and just want her to go to sleep because she is going to be miserable tomorrow and I say, “Well, if you don’t go to school then you won’t grow up and be smart and you will have to live on the street.” Horrible, I know. I don’t even know where that came from. She is crying harder now and saying that the thunderstorms will get her and she doesn’t want to live in the street. I am thinking, what have I done!? So, I tell her things like, I am sorry, that wasn’t a nice thing to say, mommy and daddy will always protect you and keep you safe from thunderstorms and you will never ever have to live in the street. I promise, I promise, I promise. She wants me to dry her tears and give her hugs and kisses which I do LOTS of. And then she says, “I guess I will go to school tomorrow.” And goes to sleep.

Oh goodness! What an emotional 30 minutes! This is one of those nights where I have gotten parenthood all wrong and said all the wrong things and made my poor baby so sad. Good thing little kids are so forgiving. I write this in my blog because I am human, I make huge mistakes and I know other parents can relate. I just want to go cuddle Novalie and sleep right by her all night so she knows she will always be safe. I hope she knows.

We have been super busy, but have done a lot of fun things lately. My Mom was here visiting for 2 weeks, which was fun as always. Novalie started swimming lessons twice a week and soccer. She is the only one in her swimming class, so we have been getting private lessons. She is a very good swimmer and by far it is her favorite thing. She likes soccer as well and really tries hard to kick the ball correctly. She is absolutely loving Kindergarten. Here are some pictures of a few things we have been doing.

We picked my Mom up at the airport and decided to spend the afternoon in Spokane. We went on a gondola ride to see the Spokane Falls. It was a very short ride, thank goodness – I did not like being in that gondola, but Novalie sure did. Here she is with the falls in the background.

Here we are on the historic carrousel in Spokane. It has been there since 1909.

In the park as well was this gigantic wagon slide. Novalie had fun on it.

This year for the fair, Novalie entered a drawing which you can see in the picture. It was a dinosaur village in the rain and she got a second place ribbon for it. It was a great experience to do this and she loves her ribbon. Way to go Novalie! Awesome drawing! I am proud of you!

This is the first year Novalie went on a “big kid” ride which is these swings. This picture is her first time and you can tell she was a little nervous, but loved it and went on them again and again. Does anything scare Novalie? I am afraid not. She wanted to go on the other “big kid” rides, but I wouldn’t let her.

Novalie got to go to 2 fairs in 2 weekends. Thank you to Grandma for spoiling Novalie. It was just too much fun watching Novalie on all the rides. She went for 4 to 5 hours straight without stopping. I need a carnival in my backyard to match her energy level. Wouldn’t that be fun!

Kevin has started playing table tennis again with the club at WSU. He is very good and last week got invited to the Chinese table to play which is an honor. He came up with kitchen table ping pong which is what him and Novalie are doing in the picture. I have to say, it is fun and Kevin and I sneak in a game whenever we can. (Yes, our net is from a diet coke box)

My Mom has gone home now and we were sad to see her go. Thank you Mom for another fun and busy trip! I am looking forward to getting into a schedule and slowing down a bit. (If that is even possible for me – I bought a planner today, so we will see.)

Here is what has gone on during Novalie’s ride home from school on the bus. (The ones she has told me about). It has only been 2 weeks and she is 5 don’t forget and it is just Kindergartner’s on the bus.

First, her and her good friend Lily ate paper.

“Did you just chew it and spit it out?” I asked.

“Nope, we swallowed it.” She answered.

“Where did you get paper to eat?”

“From my snack.”

“The fruit roll up paper?”

“Yes, Lily and I ate it.”

Second, she told me that the boys were playing a kissing game.

“What did you do?” I asked her nervously.

“I folded my arms and ignored them.” Novalie said.

Phew! Way to make good choices Novalie!

Third, they played a toilet bowl game.

“What is the toilet bowl game?” I asked.

“You say silly things and then flush them down the toilet.” She replied.

She continued, “We laughed so hard and couldn’t stop laughing.”

“Do you say good silly things?” I asked

“Yes, I only said good words and flushed them down the toilet and laughed.”

Where do kids come up with these things? Are we going to survive the year on the school bus? I understand with deeper meaning now, good quality family time. It is the protection children need from “the world.”